


their sickly first kiss

by CourtneyEllen



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Middle School, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slight homophobic language, Underage - Freeform, both of them are like thirteen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 08:11:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15945311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourtneyEllen/pseuds/CourtneyEllen
Summary: If he had to do it over again, he would not change one thing. It, after all, had led to the best day of his life.





	their sickly first kiss

If he had to do it over again, he would not change one thing. It, after all, had led to the best day of his life.

This all started at the tender age of eleven, his first day of middle school. The brunet boy had never been more excited to go to school. It was unusual for a child at his age to be excited for school, but you see he was not like the other children. He had been home schooled through primary school and would have gone all the way to his high school graduation if his mother had her way. Obviously Kelly had not gotten her way since he was now standing outside of his history class too shy to walk in just yet. Despite his nerves, he was glad that his mother had not gotten her way.

Kelly was worried about her son, he was her first baby and this was his first time being away from her for more than a few hours at a time with no one he knew. She had begged her husband, Chris, to “please let him stay home, just one more year!” But the patriarch was determined to see his son have a normal childhood. It was abnormal for a child to only be friends with their siblings and no other kids in the neighborhood. Chris would never forget how his son had longingly looked out the window during one of his wife’s lesson at the kids getting off the school bus. It was then that he decided that his eldest was going to go to middle school when the time came.

This leads to where the eldest son is standing now, with the late bell ringing startling him out of his thoughts. Of course he would be late on the first day of class! The door squeaked as he pushed it open and he internally winced as all the eyes turned towards him. Being homeschooled had caused him to have rather severe shyness and anxiety, even at eleven. This anxiety buzzing around in his head tuned out the teacher as she shared his name with the class and other information that he had no clue how she knew.

“Why don’t you go sit back with Joshua? Joshua, raise your hand,” the small brunet boy made his way towards the curly hair boy who raised his hand towards the back of the room. He, like the other students, was wearing a crisp uniform of a plain white shirt, black slacks, black dress shoes, and a simple red tie. Only this ‘Joshua’ had a small pin on the collar of his shirt. It was an alien, he realized once he was seated. The pin was black and the alien’s eyes were white. It matched with the uniform perfectly, but he had the sneaking suspicion that if the teacher knew what Joshua had on his collar, she would take it and maybe even send him to the principal. He had very limited knowledge of how schools actually worked outside of TV shows.

“Pssst, hey,” a soft voice sounded next to the brunet, a pointy elbow knocking into his own for a second before it went back to its own desk. He glanced at the boy next to him and made a small ‘hmm’ noise to let him know that he was listening without attracting the attention from the teacher. “My names Joshua Dun, but you can call me Josh. What’s your name?” The kid, Josh, already knew his name, seeing as the teacher had announced it to the classroom without his permission, but maybe he wanted to make sure he was actually not an alien?

“Tyler, Tyler Joseph,” the brunet smiled politely. The grin he got back was well worth the step out of his comfort zone and giving away his name. This was the start of a beautiful friendship.

It was two years later when their friendship shifted. That fateful exchange of names had led to Josh and Tyler spending all of their time together. They were always together. Their parents expected to have the other to be with their son every day. If you found Josh, you found Tyler and vice versa. They were inseparable. The only time in those two years that they were separated was the day that Josh showed up with a bloody nose and a black eye. Tyler remembers was if it was a part of his body.

“Josh? What the hell?!” Tyler had shouted, the thirteen-year-old staring at his best friend as if he was one of Josh’s beloved aliens. It had been the one day that Tyler stayed home because he was too sick to go to school. He had been texting Josh all day long, but he had not said anything about someone fighting him. “Come here,” Tyler demanded, reaching out towards Josh, the other boy moving towards his friend. He winced when the clammy fingers touched his face, not from the feeling of them but from the pain in his face. “What happened?” Tyler whispered, shifting and letting out a soft groan at the soreness of his body.

“Some guys jumped me after school, it’s fine Ty. Do you need anything?” The older boy – only by a few months – asked, running his own fingers through Tyler’s sweaty curls. It was not normal behavior for adolescent boys, but Josh and Tyler had never been normal. Not with Tyler’s homeschool experience and Josh’s anxiety with others. The two depended on the other for a lot seeing as they were each other’s only friends. Tyler snapped back to the present when Josh’s thumb stroked his cheekbone to get him focus.

“No, mama said something ‘bout soup ‘while ago,” his voice was nasally, but Josh seemed to be able to follow along well enough. “Why’d they jump you?” Tyler asked shyly, hand reaching up to wrap around Josh’s wrist, though not moving his hand from his hair. Josh sighed gently, knowing that Tyler was not going to drop the subject. The older boy went to speak, but the clicking of a door had him burying his face into Tyler’s shoulder. If Kelly saw him with a busted nose she would tell his parents and inform the school. He couldn’t let that happen.

“Oh! Josh honey, I didn’t even know you were here. You are going to get sick though,” she said, taking in the sight of Josh curled against her eldest chest. Tyler tangled his fingers into Josh’s curls and held him closer.

“He had a rough day, mom.” Tyler explained loosely, staring at his mother pointedly. She frowned in concern and looked down at the other boy before placing the bowl of soup on Tyler’s beside table. She stopped for a brief minute to pat his head before leaving the room, the door clicking close behind her. Josh pulled back, frowning at the bit of blood that was left on Tyler’s shirt from his face. He reached for the soup and took a quick sip from the corner of the bowl before handing it over to Tyler. The chocolate eyes stared at Josh’s mocha ones waiting for him to start talking.

“They had said something about you being,” Josh paused for a second, looking down at his slacks and picking a loose thread that was hanging from them. Tyler ate his soup quietly, not wanting to interrupt Josh’s story. “Gay.” Hearing that word had Tyler’s back straightening and he let out a slight whimper. Josh’s fingers reassuringly stroked his hair. “Kept calling you my boyfriend and stuff like that and so I stood up for you and said we were just friends.” Tyler had no idea why that confession had hurt more than being called gay. His parents were more accepting than others and he knew that being gay was not bad, but still not many boys his age were. Being called gay was still a slur that hurt most of the boys his age and made them defensive. “One thing led to another and I ended up telling them that I was bi,” Josh paused when Tyler made a confused noise in the back of his throat.

“What’s that?” Tyler asked gently, not sure what Josh meant by the word or if it was a bad one.

“Bi?” At Tyler’s nod, Josh let a small smile slip on his face before continuing. “Bisexual. It is when you love boy boys and girls. Though I think I may like boys more than girls.” Josh admitted shyly, once more looking down at his pants. Tyler sat confused for a second, trying to process the information. Josh liked boys? There was something other than straight and gay? You could like both? His sick addled mind was swimming. “Apparently they think bi is a synonym for gay and beat me up. Don’t worry, I caught a few lucky punches as well,” Josh smiled, his lips and teeth a bit red from the blood that had spilled from his nose. Tyler had never thought he looked handsomer.

“You can like both?” Tyler asked, looking down at his soup, spoon moving around the noodles within. Josh looked over Tyler as the brunet distractedly pushed around his soup. Even in the littlest activities and sick Tyler still looked beautiful to him. Tyler was everything that Josh was not, but instead of feeling envious, Josh felt complete. Tyler completed him and the puzzle piece that was missing.

“Of course you can Ty, there are no rules on love,” Josh said gently, watching as the sick boy raised his head to scan Josh’s face. He could see hope in Tyler’s eyes and maybe even a bit of astonishment.

“Can I try something?” Tyler whispered, gently setting his soup to the side and shifting closer to Josh. Upon seeing his wince, Josh moved closer for Tyler so he wouldn’t tire himself out more. Now sitting a couple inches away from each other, the two stared at each other. It was a game of chicken to see who would make the first move. Josh finally nodded his head at Tyler’s question, realizing that maybe that is what Tyler is waiting for. And sure enough the younger boy tilted his head forward. It felt like slow motion.

To say that either of them forgot the taste of blood and chicken noodle soup to this day would be a lie. And to say that Josh regret getting sick the next day was an absolute lie. He would not have changed a thing about that day.

**ØØØØØØ**

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! i hope you like this! i think it is really cute and stuff, but i’m not sure if people in my class will like it! oh well! i love it! if you wanna talk to me or ask for any plots or situations, send me an ask on my tumblr, scarycis
> 
> comments really keep me going guys so let me know what you guys think!


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